Re: Linux.com Editor Joe Barr is dead - Linux

This is a discussion on Re: Linux.com Editor Joe Barr is dead - Linux ; On Jul 12, 6:04 pm, Homer wrote:
> Joe Barr died suddenly last night, aged 64.
>
> In addition to his work at Linux.com, he became infamous for a scathing
> attack on MPlayer[*], but some may also remember ...

Re: Linux.com Editor Joe Barr is dead

On Jul 12, 6:04 pm, Homer wrote:
> Joe Barr died suddenly last night, aged 64.
>
> In addition to his work at Linux.com, he became infamous for a scathing
> attack on MPlayer[*], but some may also remember his dweebspeak primer,
> in which he related details of the Microsoft Munchkins' attacks on OS2:
>
> http://www.pjprimer.com/jihad.html
>
> A memorial tribute by Linux.com:
>
> http://www.linux.com/feature/141548

I'm deeply saddened. I knew Joe Bar only from e-mail, but back in the
days of CIS:Canopus, he was kind enough to mail me a copy of his print
version of the PJPrimer newsletter .... half a world across to my home
down in South America, free of charge of course. He also never left an
e-mail message unanswered.

He was among the first persons whose work sparked the idea in me about
getting into IT reporting.

Last time I heard of him... he was playing with RealBasic, writing a
cards game... don't know if it was ever released or he was just toying
withe the compiler/ide.

You'll be missed, Joe!.
FC

Re: Linux.com Editor Joe Barr is dead

Verily I say unto thee, that fcassia spake thusly:
> I'm deeply saddened. I knew Joe Bar only from e-mail, but back in
> the days of CIS:Canopus, he was kind enough to mail me a copy of
> his print version of the PJPrimer newsletter .... half a world
> across to my home down in South America, free of charge of course.
> He also never left an e-mail message unanswered.
>
> He was among the first persons whose work sparked the idea in me
> about getting into IT reporting.
>
> Last time I heard of him... he was playing with RealBasic, writing
> a cards game... don't know if it was ever released or he was just
> toying withe the compiler/ide.
>
> You'll be missed, Joe!.
> FC

You should write a tribute to Joe on your Blog, and sign it "the OS/2
Guru", like in the old days.

I haven't seen you on L.Inq for a while, but it'd be a good idea if they
carried a story about it too (nothing there so far), so maybe you could
oblige with some reminiscing about Joe, and further insight into the
Munchkins.

However, the link to the Noël "Pie Man" Godin interview is broken. I'm
not sure if this is exactly the same interview, but here's a working
link nonetheless:

FM: How did you prepare to pie Bill Gates?

Godin: For several years, there's been a new phenomenon. Traitors appear
in the entourage of our victims who contact us to give us firsthand
information. Our victims, at first sight, are very unpleasant and they
are far from being loved in their own circle; this is our trump. For
instance, these last years, Patrick Poivre D'Arvor, [producer] Daniel
Toscan du Plantier and [French minister] Nicolas Sarkozy have been
betrayed. In the case of Bill Gates, a member of the staff of Microsoft
Belgium contacted us and gave us a mysterious rendezvous. Thanks to him,
the operation was a success. Of course we won't give his name. It's a
secret; only a few know his identity. But we want to tell it because we
would be very amused if there was suspicion in the staff of Microsoft.
"Who's the traitor?!"

..----
| "The idea that Bill Gates has appeared like a knight in shining
| armour to lead all customers out of a mire of technological chaos
| neatly ignores the fact that it was he who, by peddling second-rate
| technology, led them into it in the first place." ~ Douglas Adams
`----

Re: Linux.com Editor Joe Barr is dead

The young people nowadays whom watch the clip on YouTube seem
confused... and don't understand "why" someoone would even think
about throwing a pie to the face of this "hero" of theirs,
responsible for their "stable, lovely" Windows OS. This is the
generation which has grown on Windows XP and think Windows has been
stable all the time and they can't conceive or imagine that the
company did something abusive and broke the law in the process to
obtain its dominant marketplace position. They should know the truth
about BillG's firm and its recurring abusive, restrictive behaviour.

For the COLA record.

--
Symptom: Floor blurred.
Fault: You are looking through bottom of empty glass.
Action Required: Find someone who will buy you another beer.

Symptom: Floor moving.
Fault: You are being carried out.
Action Required: Find out if you are taken to another bar. If not,
complain loudly that you are being kidnapped.
-- Bar Troubleshooting

Re: Linux.com Editor Joe Barr is dead

* Roy Schestowitz peremptorily fired off this memo:
> Microsoft Memories
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
>| At some point in your presentation billg will say "that's the dumbest
>| ****ing idea I've heard since I've been at Microsoft." He looks like
>| he means it. However, since you knew he was going to say this, you
>| can't really let it faze you. Moreover, you can't afford to look
>| fazed; remember: he's a bully.
> `----
>
> http://blog.tomevslin.com/2007/05/microsoft_memor.html

"There was nothing quite as absurd as a newly-hired college graduate
thinking he could be as smart or rich as billg if he could only
manage to be as rude."

There are sure some absurd doofuses in this ng!

--
Never appeal to a man's "better nature." He may not have one.
Invoking his self-interest gives you more leverage.
-- Lazarus Long

Re: Linux.com Editor Joe Barr is dead

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____/ Linonut on Monday 14 July 2008 11:50 : \____
> * Homer peremptorily fired off this memo:
>
>> BTW, I liked your "Good Riddance Bill Gates article":
>>
>> http://geekgaucho.blogspot.com/2008/...ill-gates.html
>
> The young people nowadays whom watch the clip on YouTube seem
> confused... and don't understand "why" someoone would even think
> about throwing a pie to the face of this "hero" of theirs,
> responsible for their "stable, lovely" Windows OS. This is the
> generation which has grown on Windows XP and think Windows has been
> stable all the time and they can't conceive or imagine that the
> company did something abusive and broke the law in the process to
> obtain its dominant marketplace position. They should know the truth
> about BillG's firm and its recurring abusive, restrictive behaviour.
>
> For the COLA record.

"But those who know me know that I'm not very serious or "politically correct".
So here's my farewell message to "Bill #2" ... the only moment where I smiled
after seeing Gates on TV!"

You can take a criminal and put him in a sweater. But it's still just a
criminal in a sweater.

"Thanks to Mr. Gates, we now know that an open Internet with protocols anyone
can implement is communism; it was set up by that famous communist agent, the
US Department of Defense."

--Richard Stallman

Time to watch Gates carefully because he's already persua^H^Hbribing officials.
It was the UN 2 weeks ago, just days after his 'retirement'.

More on Gates (from colleagues):

Microsoft Memories

,----[ Quote ]
| At some point in your presentation billg will say "that's the dumbest
| ****ing idea I've heard since I've been at Microsoft." He looks like
| he means it. However, since you knew he was going to say this, you
| can't really let it faze you. Moreover, you can't afford to look
| fazed; remember: he's a bully.
`----

,----[ Quote ]
| My father, in his travels, has met Bill Gates. I don't think I'd be
| creating a problem for him now (as he recently retired) by saying that he
| was unimpressed. Apparently Gates was rude, he was distracted, and when
| he sat, he rocked back and forth in his chair, an action which reminded
| my Dad of people with dementia.
`----

,----[ Quote ]
| In my BillG review meeting, the whole reporting hierarchy was there,
| along with their cousins, sisters, and aunts, and a person who came
| along from my team whose whole job during the meeting was to keep an
| accurate count of how many times Bill said the F word. The lower the
| f***-count, the better.
|
| [...]
|
| Four," announced the f*** counter, and everyone said, "wow, that's the
| lowest I can remember. Bill is getting mellow in his old age." He was,
| you know, 36.
|
| Later I had it explained to me. "Bill doesn't really want to review
| your spec, he just wants to make sure you've got it under control. His
| standard M.O. is to ask harder and harder questions until you admit that
| you don't know, and then he can yell at you for being unprepared. Nobody
| was really sure what happens if you answer the hardest question he can
| come up with because it's never happened before."
`----

Re: Linux.com Editor Joe Barr is dead

"Moshe Goldfarb." writes:
> On Mon, 14 Jul 2008 10:54:29 -0400, Linonut wrote:
>
>>
>> There are sure some absurd doofuses in this ng!
>
> Sure are...
>
> The 5 Linux *advocates* that live here:
>
> Roy Schestowitz.
> Mark Kent
> [Homer]
> High Plains Thumper
> Linonut.
>
> So where did all the Linux advocates that used to post here 3 years ago
> disappear to?
> There seems to have been a mass exodous right about the time Roy
> Schestowitz fired up the SPAM machine.
>
> And very few if any new Linux advocates have joined the group
>
> Wonder why that is

Oh, I don't know. There are a lot who sound and smell a bit like High
Plains Hypocrite for a start. Maybe they are related?

Re: Linux.com Editor Joe Barr is dead

On Mon, 14 Jul 2008 21:51:42 +0200, Hadron wrote:
> "Moshe Goldfarb." writes:
>
>> On Mon, 14 Jul 2008 10:54:29 -0400, Linonut wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> There are sure some absurd doofuses in this ng!
>>
>> Sure are...
>>
>> The 5 Linux *advocates* that live here:
>>
>> Roy Schestowitz.
>> Mark Kent
>> [Homer]
>> High Plains Thumper
>> Linonut.
>>
>> So where did all the Linux advocates that used to post here 3 years ago
>> disappear to?
>> There seems to have been a mass exodous right about the time Roy
>> Schestowitz fired up the SPAM machine.
>>
>> And very few if any new Linux advocates have joined the group
>>
>> Wonder why that is
>
> Oh, I don't know. There are a lot who sound and smell a bit like High
> Plains Hypocrite for a start. Maybe they are related?

I'm not including all the nyms High Plains Thumper conjures up, like Wendy
Toiletwater for example.